For Experienced Wargamers

Some points for boardgamers familiar with games such as World in Flames or the Europa series (e.g. Fire in the East/Scorched Earth):

It's a hex based boardgame of a large scale. The basic Soviet unit is the corps, division, or brigade. The basic Axis unit is the division or regiment.

In addition to on-map units, there are many support units of different types. e.g. artillery regiments, sapper battalions, and various other units from brigade size down to battalion size. These can be directly attached to certain on-map units, or may exist attached to HQs as reserves to be thrown in during a combat.

Unlike WiF, you don't lose entire units in a combat and then rebuild those units to be replaced some turns later in your rear areas. Instead, the combat and losses mechanism is such that your units take a certain amount of damage in a combat, which causes the unit to get weaker. That damage is replaced, more or less, over time. Also, over time, your units will gain experience which will increase their combat strength. That is balanced with the reinforcement system, which causes units that have suffered combat losses to receive reinforcements, which are of lower experience, and hence lose combat strength. So, for example, a Panzer Division that starts with 20 CV may suffer damage in an assault against anti-tank units and be reduced to 12 CV, then gain replacements which will bring it back to 18 CV, then later increase in experience or morale to bring it up to 24 CV.

Because of the damage system, you don't generally either lose entire units or rebuild units. Units that are surrounded and defeated in combat, causing them to surrender, are either lost permanently or are replaced as "shell" units in your rear where they will slowly gain reinforcements. The Soviets may build a limited number of extra divisions, brigades, or HQs during the game, but receive the bulk of their units as reinforcements during late 1941. The Axis cannot choose to build additional units and must rely on their entry and withdrawal schedule (which will include more withdrawals than reinforcements during the later months of the war).

Movement

Your units will have a lot more movement points than you are used to in other board wargames, but it also takes many movement points to enter some hexes (e.g. hexes with enemy ZOCs, especially when moving from ZOC to ZOC).

There is no "movement phase" and "combat phase" like in many board wargames. You can keep moving and conducting combat with your units, until they run out of movement points. It takes a number of MPs to conduct combat, and more to enter the enemy hex should you win that combat. There is no automatic advance after combat, it may be the case that you have enough MPs to attack but not to advance.

Combat System in Brief

Each unit, including all of its support units has a "CV" or Combat Value, however this is only a rough indication of the unit's worth. The CV is a reflection of the unit's ability to hold ground. So a rifle corps will have a high CV, whereas an artillery division, which has a high hitting power, has a lower CV.

In addition to units present in the hex being attacked (and in addition to the units shown as attackers), support units and reserve units may be committed to the combat. This is done automatically by the computer.

The hitting power of a unit depends on what guns (artillery, tank, anti-tank) the unit has as well as the ability of those guns to fire against the defenders in whatever ground they are holding. So, for example, an attacking tank unit will have a limited hitting power against an infantry unit defending in a well-fortified urban hex, but an artillery unit will have a higher hitting power against those same defenders.

Each side inflicts losses against the other, depending on the side's available hitting power. So, for example, an artillery unit assaulting against an infantry regiment in open ground will cause a lot of casualties, as will an anti-tank unit in defensive position against a tank assault. These losses will reduce the CV of units involved in the battle.

After all losses are calculated, the CVs of each side are compared to determine the winner and loser of the battle.

If the attacker wins a battle, the defender will retreat. If the attacker loses a battle, the defender does not retreat.

Axis units attacking win a battle if they have more than 2:1 CV against the defender. Soviet units attacking win a battle if they have more than 1:1 CV against the defender.

Occasionally, defending units will rout or shatter when exposed to overwhelming forces. This is worse than simply retreating as it causes a larger proportion of the unit's overall strength to be lost. Units that are completely surrounded and have been so since the previous turn may surrender, with the loss (and capture) of all of their manpower and equipment.

You can combine and break down units during your turn. So, for example, to stack more than just 3 rifle brigades into a hex, combine those 3 brigades into a rifle division and you can stack 3 of those together. Or 3 rifle corps, each of which is comprised of 3 rifle divisions. The ability to combine units can increase your hitting power or holding power on a narrow section of front, at the expense of your ability to hold elsewhere.

Logistics

You have very little control over your production. Unlike WiF, where you choose which units to build, your production is determined by what materiel and manpower are produced by your factories and cities. There is a system whereby your armaments production responds to shortages in your units, so for example, if you have many units using 81mm mortars and they all have low current TOE, then your armamentsfactories will automatically increase their production of those mortars.

Logistics other than production are very important. You must have enough fuel from fuel factories and oil centers to supply your forces. Some types of factories produce supplies which are consumed by units as well as used by other factories as raw materials in manufacture. Your rail network does the bulk of supplying your units, and when you reach past the end of that rail network you will need trucks to continue the job of supply. If your pool of trucks runs very low then you could see your front line units reduced to stone monoliths, unable to move. To solve that problem you may need to steal trucks from a unit by putting it into static mode. The problem is much worse for the Soviets -- see Soviet vehicle pool management.

Naval and Air

The naval system is almost completely abstracted. In general, the war in the East was fought on land rather than at sea.

You have limited control over what your airforce will do in support of your combat troops. Your bombers may choose to fly in support of an assault you are launching or a hex you are defending, but they may not. Your air units will mostly be built automatically based on excess production. You can choose to commit your air force from the National Reserve to air bases, which are in turn commanded by an Air HQ.